The Central Election Commission's (CEC) registration period for the legislative elections closed yesterday, with a record number of candidates registering for legislator-at-large seats.
Under the new "single-member district, two-ballot" system that takes effect with the January polls, voters will select 79 district legislators, including Aboriginal representatives. There will be 34 legislator-at-large seats, which will be allocated in proportion with the total votes each party receives in the second ballot.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has 71 candidates for district elections, including two Aborigines.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) jointly nominated 74, including four Aborigines.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) fielded 13 candidates. The Home Party and Taiwan Farmers' Party (TFP) each have 11 and the Third Society Party has 10.
Thirteen parties registered a total of 132 candidates for the 34 legislator-at-large slots.
The KMT-PFP and DPP topped the lists, with 34 candidates each.
They were followed by the TSU with 15, including one Aboriginal candidate, the New Party with 10 and the TFP with eight.
The Home Party has seven candidates; the Third Society Party has five; the Civic Party and the Green Party Taiwan have four each; the Taiwan Hakka Party, the Dadao Compassion Jishih Party and the Alliance for Enacting the Constitution have three each; and the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union has two.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
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